Author: Michelle

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The Week in Review

School is wrapping up here tomorrow, and I have to say, I’m ready for a change in routine. This past week has been, I think, the busiest one of the school year. Nearly every day this week, there’s been a special event at one school or the other (or both!) and a list of very specialized, random items to send in on particular days.

Monday: MaM has an all-morning appointment 25 miles away from where the Fox spends his mornings. Send snack and show and tell with the Fox.

Tuesday: Escort the Fox to school, celebrate his impending FOURTH birthday (hold me) with fruit snacks for 24. Send MaM to school with $3 for a handi-craft fair.

Here's the Fox having fun at the play dough table at school. Doesn't he look almost four?

Wednesday: Take MaM to school and enjoy a breakfast for school volunteers. The breakfast pizza I had made shelving library books all year long totally worth it (for reals. so good). Pick up a medication in the school office while I’m there. Pack a wedge of Asiago cheese and a can of sunscreen in MaM’s backpack. Get a call (too late) that MaM forgot her lunchbox. Apparently gnawing on the wedge of Asiago wasn’t an option. Oops.

Thursday: Send paper plates with the Fox. Get $$ from the ATM for MaM. CLEAN THE LUNCHBOXES AND PUT THEM AWAY for awhile. I’m sure we’ll picnic at some point this summer. Write a list of things MaM needs to remember to bring home from school tomorrow.

Friday: Send $5 & a bag of apples to school with MaM. Leave work early for an end-of-school lunch with the Fox. Remind LKM to do the same for MaM’s end-of-school lunch. Silver Lining: It’s No Lunch Box Friday! (And, I get to meet Mario Andretti and have drinks with the girls later that night- more on that later)

By Friday afternoon, I’ll have a second grader and a pre-k’r. I’m not exactly sure how that happened, but I’m not complaining. Second graders count money and tell time and read chapter books. Second graders also get to make First Communion. Second graders will sometimes also have to go to the orthodontist, but so it goes. Pre-k’rs sleep more at night, are more independent and tell funny jokes, right?

I don’t know what the first week of summer will bring, but I’ll be pretty content if it doesn’t involve leaving the house at 7:30am, random cash in envelopes, and assorted grocery items going in odd directions.

Clearly, I need a drink. I’ll probably have one before Vintage Indiana, but I’m looking forward to it nonetheless. If you’re reading this before 9pm on Friday night, click here to enter my Vintage Indiana ticket giveaway!

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Vintage Indiana Ticket Giveaway: We are Entering Summer!

This giveaway is now closed– thanks for playing!! I’ll announce the winner when I hear back from her! 

In the past few days, Summer 2012 has moved from an idea to an actual real thing that’s going to be happening sooner rather than later. I have it on good authority it’s going to be filled with Awesome, from time at the pool to amazing events around town.

To celebrate the beginning of summer, I am teaming up with Indiana’s Family of Farmers to give away 2 tickets to the first nod to summer- The Vintage Indiana Wine and Food Fest.

INDIANA. It may not be the first place you think of when you think of wine, but actually, there are 63 wineries in Indiana. I’ve been to four of them, I think (I was, you know, drinking while I was there). I’m not the best judge of wine, I’ll admit it- the night that we decided which kit to make at Harmony Winery, I had a star next to every wine I tried. I was good with any of our choices. I’m easy like that. These 63 wineries produce 1.25 million gallons of wine each year. I’m proud to say that my friends and I produced a few gallons of that last fall, and so far this year, I’ve probably consumed a few gallons. I like to support Indiana ventures, what can I say?

This is Vintage Indiana’s 13th year of bringing together the best local food and wine Indiana has to offer. 26 Indiana wineries will be offering samples of over 200 award-winning wines. I can’t wait to draw a star next to every one that I try.

Here’s the thing though- even if wine isn’t your thing (are there really people like that?), there is still plenty to do on June 2nd. In addition to wine samples, there’s also food available from 14 Indiana restaurants, food and cooking demonstrations, a KidsZone for the younger set and live music. There is really nothing I love more than live music outside, in Indiana, on a summer’s day.

Here’s the current line up:

12-2pm: Mike Milligan & Steam Shovel

2:30-4:30: Jennie DeVoe

5:15-6:45: Casey James, former American Idol! Current hit is “Let’s Don’t Call it a Night”

Ticket information (in case you don’t win) is as follows:

Adults tickets are $22 in advance at Marsh Supermarkets or online at www.vintageindiana.com; $25 at gate

Designated Driver tickets are $10 and include unlimited soft drinks and water. No wine glass or wine samples allowed on this ticket.

Kids ages 6-20 are $5. Under 5 years old are free.

Here’s the Ticket Giveaway to Vintage Indiana Wine and Food Festival:

So you want to go to this,right? I mean, there’s great entertainment, there’s great food, and there are 200 varieties of wine being poured. What’s not to like?

To enter to win 2 adult passes (with drinking privileges) please do the following:

1) (required) Leave a comment here telling me something about either wine, an Indiana winery you’ve been to or want to visit.

2) For up to 2 additional entries (one for Twitter, one for Facebook): Tweet or post the following on Facebook:

“I entered to win tix to @vintageindiana from @gotchababy & @FamilyofFarmers & you can too: http://wp.me/pVbJS-HY #VintageIN”

(feel free to take out the @ if you’re posting it on FB) and then leave a comment (one for each action) here telling me that you did.

This giveaway will be open until Thursday, May 24th at 9pm. I will email the winner, and the winner will have a day to get back to me- if I don’t hear anything by 9pm May 25th, I’ll pick another winner.

Good Luck!

Want some more chances to win? My friends Katie, Sarah, Angie and Crystal have ticket giveaways going on RIGHT NOW. Check back here often, and as more giveaways go up, I’ll link them here:

 

Disclosure: As an IFOF Ambassador,  I received compensation for running this giveaway and 2 tickets to the event for my own personal use. My experiences with Indiana wine are all my own.

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Easy DIY Teacher Appreciation Gift

 

Here's a Montessori themed Word Cloud

Did you know that the first full week in May is Teacher Appreciation week? I’m not sure when it became an official “thing”, but it’s been fun brainstorming and getting things together for both MaM and the Fox’s classroom teachers.

While I was mulling over what to do, I had a burst of inspiration. And since it doesn’t happen often, I thought I’d share.

One thing I think most teachers enjoy (I know I did) is receiving sentiments from their students. One of my most favorite momentos ever is from a little girl who drew a picture of the two of us, and her dad wrote the story about it on the back. I wanted to coordinate sentiments from the Fox’s entire class- and all of a sudden it came to me. WORDLE.

The school administrator took the time to have each child say what they liked best about each teacher.

1) I created a word doc that included all of the quotes from all of the children, including their names.

2) I pasted that document into the text box on the wordle.net website.

3) I played around with the Wordle text by pressing “randomize” and tweaking the color and the font until I hit upon what I wanted.

4) I saved the file by selecting print, and then instead of printing, I saved it as a PDF.

5)I I printed the PDF on photo paper, and popped it in a 8 x 10 frame.

Viola!

What was really amazing about this project was that the words that “popped” on each teacher’s Wordle were dead-on. The teacher who spends time outside and teaches art had outside, monkey-bars, art, and paint in large type. The teacher who practices sight words with the children, sings songs and prepares snack had words like read, sings, and snack were the largest words on her word cloud. I can’t wait to give them to the teachers next week!

Wondering what you can do if you can’t get the whole class to contribute quotes?

a) Include the teacher’s name, and the class roster

b) Include the subject, along with special projects or unit themes that have been covered

c) Include reading lists, people studied, or lists of other topics covered

The possibilities are endless- have fun thinking of groups of words that might work for the special teacher in your life. He or she will appreciate it.